Cheek-piece for bridle-bits.



PATENTED APR. 3, 1906.

N. STALKER. GHEEK PIECE FOR BRIDLE BITS.

APPLIOATION FILED JUNE 8, 1905- UNITE STATES PATEN @FFTQE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented April 3, 1906.

Application filed June 8, 1905. Serial No. 264,255.

To all whom it may concern:

9 Be it known that I, NEIL STALKER, a citizen of the United States, residing at West Hartford, in the county of Hartford and State of Connecticut, have invented a new and useful Cheek-Piece for Bridle-Bits, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to a piece which is designed for application to a bridle-bit for running, trotting, and driving horses.

The object of the invention is the production of a simple piece which can be applied to various styles of bits for preventing the bit from sliding sidewise in the mouth of a horse, and also to provide means which can be made to bear hard on the aw of the horse if he becomes fractious and it is necessary to pull him.

The piece which is shown in the drawings as illustrating the invention is particularly designed for application to the end of a socalled flexible bit-that is, abit which has a core formed of spring metal that is covered with leather or similar soft tough material.

Figure 1 of the drawings shows a plan of one of these cheekieces. Fig. 2 shows a side view. Fig. 3 shows a front view, and Fig. 4 shows a plan of a piece applied to an end of a flexible bit.

The cheek-piece shown in the drawings consists of a body 1, having a circular opening 2, through which passes the usual ring 3 that the lines and bridle are attached to. This annular body is formed of malleable metal and has two projecting integral jaws 4 and 5. These jaws are spread apart and are provided with rivet-holes 6.

Projecting backwardly and downwardly on a curve is the cheek-finger 7. This cheekfinger is integral with the body and jaws and is preferably larger at the rear lower end than it is where it joins the body. The edges of this cheek-finger are rounded, so as not to chafe the flesh when the bit is drawn by a rein in such mannerthat the finger will pinch against the jaw of the horse.

The ring 3 is first placed in the ring-opening in the body and then the jaws of the cheek-piece are closed together upon the ends of the pieces 8, which are usually formed of hard spring-brass, and rivets 9 are driven through the perforations for holding these parts together. After the rivets have been fastened the whole is preferably covered with leather 10.

The invention claimed is A bridle-bit cheek-piece consisting of an annular body with a ring Opening, a pair of yielding jaws integral with and extending outwardly from the body and having rivetperforations, and a cheek-finger integral with and curving rearwardly and downwardly from the body, substantially as specified.

NEIL STALKER.

Witnesses:

HARRY R. WILLIAMS, ETHEL M. LowE. 

